AWS Card Clash — an Architecture Design Game
Introduction
Lately, I have been surfing through courses and different content on AWS SkillBuilder website, and I found the best game for almost every AWS enthusiast!
It is a card game like Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game but virtual. It consists of different AWS services like Amazon EC2, Lambda, VPC, etc.. presentend in the form of cards. It helps learners gain the knowledge of different AWS Cloud architectures by solving the puzzle on the board, and also provides a new and engaging way to learn about solution designing. It uses turn-based gameplay, so you start playing, end your turn and then opponent will play. It also helps individuals at all skill levels gain a working knowledge of AWS services, and how they interface within a solution.
Game Overview:
Open the game from here: AWS Card Clash | 3D Virtual Card Game | AWS (amazon.com)
Click “Play AWS Card Clash” button, Make sure you are logged in to the SkillBuilder website, the game will be shown as a SkillBuilder course, click on Enroll in and then start learning.
After that, navigate to Play Now! section then click on PLAY NOW!
It will take a couple of seconds to load then a tutorial will start.
After you finish the tutorial, Navigate to the Main Menu.
Here you will have access to the buttons on the right side, from up to down we have: Settings, News, Tutorial and Play to start the game.
Starting with Settings, it provides you with control over different volume settings, in addition to the resolution quality. Also, it provides you with access to Support, where you can contact AWS support by submitting a support ticket, access the frequently asked questions, a survey about your opinion on the game and a bug report to help AWS team fix it as soon as possible.
For the News section, here is an example on it:
I will skip the tutorial part as you will be going through it once you open the game.
Let’s play the game!
Once you click on play, you will see the Path Selection Map.
Select the path you prefer, for me I selected the Solution Architect path:
It consists of 12 levels, in each level you have to achieve the 3 stars.
Once you click on the level, it will give you an overview on the puzzle for this level and the service cards included, in addition to security cards.
We will go through the different card types in the next section.
But what are the contents of each level?
Level Content:
- The Game Board:
In every card game, there must be a board to play on. Here our board consists of the puzzle itself as shown below:
Also, you will find an icon with a question mark “?” on the upper right corner of the board, click on it to find a full description of the current puzzle.
2. The Game Cards:
Here we have 3 different type of cards:
a) Energy Cards: (as shown below) which gives you more actions to play the cards, for example: playing an Amazon RDS card would cost you 2 actions, so it will be conducted from your current energy balance (shown on the bottom right of the board) which is 3.
Note: Only one energy card can be played per turn.
b) Service Cards: (as shown below) Amazon RDS card here can be used to solve the puzzle, so we will play it. Otherwise, it will be thrown in the cards Discard bin on the right side.
Note: Placing a service card in the wrong place will consume 1 energy point, so be careful.
c) Security Cards: (as shown below) Security services are used to secure your resources from attacks. Same concept is applied here in the game. Using a Security Card will consume 1 point from your energy but will protect your resources from opponent attacks, like replacing your current resource for example, which is called Stealing resources.
Conclusion:
As you have seen previously in the Path Selection Map, we have 3 different paths: Cloud Practitioner, Solution Architect and Serverless Developer.
So, If you are currently preparing for an AWS certificate like: AWS Cloud Practitioner, AWS Solution Architect Associate or AWS Developer Associate, I would recommend playing this game as it will help you get more familiar with AWS services and building different solutions and architectures. Just go for the relevant path and keep playing/studying!
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